Friday, July 19, 2013

Having fallen behind to Home United, Balestier Khalsa staged a comeback to hand the visitors all three points at the Bishan Stadium.

While he identified his side's lackluster start as the reason why they found themselves trailing early on, Stewart was delighted with the way they responded and rediscovered the level of intensity that has been synonymous with their football since the Australian took charge at the start of last season.

"It was a superb win," he said.

"In the first 25 minutes, we didn't really compete and we just had to give a bit more effort. We were second to every ball and they won every challenge, but then we started to show our normal Balestier spirit and that's what got us home in the end.

"We talked about that at halftime. What got us back was that we started to lift our intensity."

The win was enough to see the Tigers extend their unbeaten run in all competition to 11 games, but it came after disappointing 1-1 draws against Warriors FC and Harimau Muda where they had failed to hold on to winning positions.

Although the former Australia international was unsure if it was fair to look at both those draws as poor results, he admitted it was good to get back to winning ways against a 'fantastic' team like Home.

"Warriors are a massive club even though their current position may not suggest that," added Stewart. "Their budget's probably twice of ours so why should we be favourites going to their ground?

"A point at the Choa Chu Kang Stadium for Balestier is a superb result. For sure, it was a disappointing point against Harimau Muda, especially conceding an equaliser so late in a game we should have probably won 7-0, but the performance in that game was outstanding.

"And tonight [Wednesday] we changed it around by playing better football; what got us through was our toughness and work rate. Of course it is [one of the biggest wins this season].

"Home United are a fantastic club; you walk in and you get scared just looking at the trophy cabinet.

"It's a massive victory and it's all down to the work of the lads. I just have the enjoyable job of watching all of that."

Stewart also refused to get overly critical of experienced defender Jaslee Hatta for his mistake in losing possession and then giving away the penalty that led to the Protectors' opener, and has set his charges the target of continuing their unbeaten run.

"We showed great spirit to bounce back from a disappointing result," he said. "Jaslee made a mistake that anyone can make, but to bounce back from that early setback against a quality team was just terrific.

"There's no reason why we shouldn't be aiming to go the rest of the season unbeaten but I'm not saying we will. But from the way we're playing and the confidence and spirit in the dressing room, why not?

"It's happened before and teams have done it, so why can't we? It's there so we might as well have a go and if there's any disappointment along the way then we'll take it in our stride."

Home United assistant coach Aidil Sharin admits it was disappointing to have lost against the Tigers after taking the lead, and does not believe it was a fair result on the night.

"Obviously it's disappointing," he said. "Especially since we were playing at home.

"To lose 2-1 after taking the lead is disappointing.

"I don't think it was a fair result as we had our chances too. The only difference was that they made their chances could and we missed a few, so that was just unfortunate."

While the teams certainly combined to produce an entertaining affair, the game was also an extremely physical one and was occasionally halted by confrontations between players from both camps.

Nonetheless, Aidil does not believe the contested nature of the match got the better of his charges and congratulated their opponents for getting their tactics right.

"This is football; it's a contact game," he added. "If you want to play, you have to go in hard for every challenge and I have nothing to say about the way they played.

"We knew Balestier's strength is in set-pieces because they have a lot of tall players. It's just unfortunate that we weren't close enough with our marking, especially in the second goal.

"Everyone knows Paul; once he gets a free header inside the box he'll do something with it, and it showed in the end result.

"When they got the first goal they kept on pressing and playing to their tactics, playing high balls all over. Perhaps it was their strategy to win a lot of throw-ins and corner kicks so that they could do something with their set-pieces.

"I think they did well on their part and showed a lot of hunger and I congratulate them for that."

Balestier Khalsa continued their remarkable run in the S-league as they make it 11 games unbeaten as they come from a goal to beat Home United 2-1.

The Protectors drew first blood after Lee Kwan-woo dispatched an 11th-minute penalty, but Qiu Li curled home a sublime freekick six minutes before the break to level the scores.

Seven minutes after the hour mark, the Tigers enjoyed more joy from a set-piece as captain Paul Cunningham rose highest inside the area to head home Ruhaizad Ismail's freekick, which ultimately proved enough for the three points.

A day after being slapped with a three-point penalty for fielding an ineligible player in the 1-0 win over Harimau Muda on July 3, the Stags showed no signs of being affected by the setback as they cruised to a 4-1 against the Protectors.

Speaking after the game, Tay admitted that apart from helping restore Tampines' four-point lead at the top of the table, the result also gave his charges a huge psychological boost.

"Importantly, the game changed the morale of the team after the fiasco," he said.

"They showed perserverance and determination and credit should go to the team.

"This win was very crucial as it changes to mood and confidence in the camp. I think the boys did well."

However, all of the Stags' hard work could easily have amounted to nothing after referee Abdul Malik Bashir halted proceedings in the 62nd minute after the Lightning Warning System (LWS) was activated, although the match did resume after a 90-minute wait.

But rather than discuss how his side could easily have seen a routine three points vanish before their eyes, Tay preferred to focus on the positives from the performance.

"We can't predict the weather so there's not much to say about that," the ex-Singapore international added.

"We tried to score early and get an early boost, which is what we did.

"We built up nicely with our set-pieces, which is something we've been practising on. As you can see, it paid off as we scored three goals from freekicks and corners.

"Now, we're playing a 4-3-3 as we want to be more attacking. We're working on pressing our opponents more from the front."

While it was his side's threat from set-pieces that pleased Tay, it was the exact opposite with Home coach Lee Lim-saeng as he struggled to explain how his team struggled to cope with their opponents in those situations.

"What can I say? We conceded three goals from set-pieces," he said.

"We lost the players we were supposed to mark and I hope we can learn after this mistake."

The Protectors were slightly unfortunate on the night as they had a first-half effort from Kwon Dak-yung chalked off for a foul on opposition keeper Andre Martins, while the South Korean also struck the bar with a rasping shot towards the end when Tampines were already leading 4-1.

Nonetheless, Lee refused to entertain any suggestions that his side had been unlucky.

"It's very difficult to say much about our performance," he added. "I just want to take full responsibility for the result.

"I don't want to make any excuses.

"We conceded from set-pieces and hopefully we don't do this again in our next game."

Tampines Rovers show why they are destined to be champions come the end of 2013 as they destroyed Home United 4-1.

After their result against Harimau Muda have been overturned, they were under pressure to get something from the game or else the chasing pack will see the door opening ever wider and that is where true champions surfaced.

Tampines Rovers not only got the result under the pressure but they also destroyed 1 of the chasing rival completely with goals from Aleksandar Duric, who scored brace, Kunihiro Yamashita and Khairul Amri.

Indra Sahdan Daud had reply for the Protectors in between but the damages inflicted by the Champions was just too much.

In another game, Tanjong Pagar drew 1-1 with DPMM.

As a result the Jaguars fall further behind in the, fast becoming Tampines only, title race.

Kamel Ramdani scored for the Jaguars while Rodrigo Tosi reply for the Brunei side.

Woodlands Wellington put to rest any doubts of their coach Salim Moin’s target for a top-three finish this season following back-to-back wins over two of the big teams in the S.League.

The Rams followed up their 5-2 win over Brunei DPMM a week ago with a 1-0 victory over Albirex Niigata (S) at the Jurong East Stadium, as they continued their impressive form.

Moon Soon Ho scored the only goal of the match in the 84th minute to lift the Rams to fifth in the league standings on 26 points, seven points behind the White Swans who remain in second spot following the loss.

Salim was in no mood to hide his joy as he spoke to the media during the post-match interview, breaking out in smiles as he answered queries.

“The secret to our success is that everybody works together; that is very important to my players," he proclaimed.

The former Singapore international was also pleased with his charges as they played to his instructions and eventually got the winning goal towards the end of the match.

“They followed [the instructions] according to my game plan, which is to stop their [Albirex's] midfield and you can see there were times in the first half when we pressed them very high," Salim explained.

“But in the second half, I told my boys to stay put whenever Albirex have the ball and not to put much pressure and when we win the ball, we [would] try to play [on the] counter-attack, and we did well.

“Gum [Theerawekin Seehawong] wanted to play even though he had an injury and it was a good move from him that resulted in the goal from Moon.”

While Salim had targeted a top-three finish earlier in the season, he feels that they will be satisfied now with a top-six place.

“I [will] try to go for [the] top three but I feel that we have already achieved our goal, and we [will] wait and see whether we will be able to stay in the top six," he said.

“If the team manage to go beyond that [top six], I [will] congratulate them as I am only a motivator.”

As for Albirex coach Koichi Sugiyama, he was not about to bring the sword out on his players and instead felt that they had a decent match despite the loss.

“I feel that my players had a good performance and there was not any problem; Woodlands is a very good team and Moon's goal is a good one," he sanguinely said.

“The league has not finished yet and we are still second in the table and we have to practice and practice.

“What we can do now is to raise the possibility of a win in the next match and I think we did as many things possible to win the game.”

Albirex Niigata (S) title hopes are virtually after they fall to a strike from Woodlands Wellington South Korean forward Moon Soon Ho.

With the 1-0 win, the Rams have taken a big step towards finishing in the top 6 playoff but for the Japanese side it has surely ended any hopes of a title charge as leaders Tampines Rovers not only hold a 4-point lead, they also have 2 games in hand.

Woodlands Wellington are now up to fifth and have a 3 point gap over the bottom 6 chasing teams.

In other games, Geylang International refused to give up the chase for a top 6 as they recorded a 1-0 win over Hougang United, despite having captain Jozef Kaplan sent off, to go up to seventh in the table.

First of all, I wondered what kind of powers he has even with a lofty title of CEO.

One has to question that as time and time again, one see him not able to make any decision on his own accord.

Examples stand out and one of them is the (yet another) revamp of the S-league last year.

Outline of the plan was revealed in the media but without details, one cannot make sense of it and that is why as time passes from days to months for the details, opinions in the public domain had gone sour and questioned what was going on.

Noting that, the details were revealed earlier than expected at a hastily arranged press conference by Mr Lim but that is where the problem is.

He was quoted time and time again the final decision had not been taken and he was waiting for final approval by the Strategic Business Unit(SBU) thus the delay.

After that, in another example, this year S-league fixtures was not released as our S-league CEO needed to wait for the FAS Director of competitions nod of the head before he can do that.

The claim was it will finally end the need for any postponement but this week, one already witness the S-league match between Warriors FC and Courts Young Lions postponed.

And before that, fixtures was also changed due to the Atlético Madrid game so let be honest, there will always be postponement in a year due to unforeseen reasons.

Indeed BPL see that every year but they still released their own version which take into account their own needs first.

Yet our S-league CEO cannot do that as it is clearly not allowed for he must take into account other people (or should I be honest and named that team) needs first.

In theory, both the staffs in the SBU and FAS director of Competitions should be below S-league CEO in rankings (and no doubt pay as neither should have any person getting the reported $96k, excluding bonuses, Mr Lim get annually)

However it seem our S-league CEO have to listen to them.

Of course, people will note in an organisation there will also be a system where somebody higher in rank will still have to listen to lower-ranked staffs as the matter is under their authority

That is where the unofficial power from a higher-ranked come from.

Let looked at this year haze, Singapore Prime Minister Lee was able to cut through the rules and regulations of the Ministries of Health, Defence and Environment to get the 1 million masks on the streets in a day when in truth, if we strictly apply the rules and regulations, it will not be as smooth or fast.

No doubt, the Prime Minister is the most powerful man in the cabinet so he had that influence; which in the case if it was the Environment Minister who asked the Ministry of Health (MOH) for the Masks, as the MOH owed the masks, it may not have been the case as they need to account for it.

That where we see how powerful a person is not just officially but also unofficially.

The fact is our S-league CEO Lim should be the third man in the FAS ranking as one noted from this old yahoo article for he was to chart Singapore football along with FAS president Zainudin Nordin and secretary-general Winston Lee.

Yet he cannot get those below to work faster as he does not have the power nor the influence and that is where one see the comparison with a position of a manager.

If one dislike a policy and tell the manager about the matter, the manager can only tell that person he/she will inform the management about the feedback but has neither the ability nor influence to change it as he/she helpless looked on at the person who is complaining.

Is that not the case for Mr Lim, while no doubt any policy decision take time to discuss and implement, the fact he can be kept waiting for months and yet nothing is done show his helpless.

After all, if it was those concerning the FAS president or even FAS secretary-general, it is another matter and it will never have taken months to make a final decision.

Third in the FAS ranking, Mr Lim may be, but not so in reality.

Mr Lim is the S-league CEO yet he has to seek approval time and time again from those perceived to be below him so what type of CEO is he.

Let be clear, a CEO is not all-powerful who can decide on everything but a S-league CEO is one who cannot decide on anything and that is a major difference.

So how can one assessed Mr Lim in his time 'in charge' as I can frankly say I cannot, as in my opinion, he is a manager.

That is why I asked how can I agreed with Mr Lim there is a bright one when one do not know if the person leading is a true CEO or in fact a manager who has to seek approval every time.

Woodlands Wellington further cement their spot for the top half playoff spot as they thrashed DPMM Brunei 5-2 at Jalan Besar.

It was a remarkable result as DPMM Brunei had taken a 2 goal lead through Joao Moreira and Rodrigo Tosi within 18 minutes.

Yet Woodlands Wellington managed to drew level before half-time through Thai Theerawekin Seehawong, who scored on his debut, and Chang Jo-yoon.

Then in the second period, the Rams was on fire as Moon Soon-ho struck within ten minutes of the restart to put the Rams in front for the first time in the game, and the remarkable comeback was sealed in the 74th minute when Chang doubled his tally.

Theerawekin also netted his second to cap off a fine evening for the Rams who now has a 3-point gap on their rivals.

While Rams was celebrating after the night result, it was a different story for second-placed Albirex Niigata (S) as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Courts Young Lions.

Sherif El-Masri opened the scoring for the Cubs before Shingo Suzuki equalised.

Third-placed Tanjong Pagar United and fourth-placed Home United continue to keep pace with leaders and champions Tampines Rovers as they won their their matches.

Tanjong Pagar United defeated Hougang United 1-0 with a goal from Monsef Zerka.

As for Home United, they had a fright as they went down to a goal from Eagles skipper Jozef Kaplan and the Eagles kept the lead until the last quarter of the game.

The Protectors only managed to get back into the game when Lee
converted a penalty after Song Ui-yong was fouled moments earlier. Kwon
then added to his compatriot's good work as he scored via a looping
header to seal the win.